Mbuya Nehanda statue pleases VP Chiwenga

Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
VICE President Dr Constantino Chiwenga yesterday toured the Mbuya Nehanda Statue project in Harare to assess progress and was pleased with what has been done so far.

Government is erecting the memorial statue for Zimbabwe’s First Chimurenga war icon, Mbuya Nehanda, in Harare in honour of her heroic rebellion against colonialism.

The Vice President was accompanied by the Acting Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Dr Jenfan Muswere and the Deputy Minister Marian Chombo.

The contractor advised the delegation that progress was at 80 percent with 20 percent works still remaining on site.

All concrete works, that is staircases, ramps and foundations have been completed. Fabrication of the steel bridge has also been completed. The Vice President expressed satisfaction with the work that has been done and thanked all stakeholders for their commitment and dedication.

The statue will be erected at the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way and construction started early last year.

A flyover is set to be constructed at the junction from which the legendary spirit medium’s statue will stand. She was executed in 1898 on charges of murdering Native Commissioner Hawkins Polard in 1896. The statue’s erection is part of Government’s efforts to immortalise Zimbabwe’s heroes and heroines.

Last year President Emmerson Mnangagwa posthumously conferred National Hero status on revered military tactician, General Mtshana Khumalo ahead of the unveiling of a monument at the site where the commander won his most famous battle at Pupu National Monument in Lupane, Matabeleland North.

Gen Khumalo was the commander of King Lobengula’s Imbizo Regiment that defeated the colonialist Allan Wilson Patrol at the Battle of Pupu on December 4 in 1893 as the first shots of resistance against colonialism were fired.

Wilson, the loser, was honoured by the settler regime and the legacy is there for all to see but, Gen Khumalo, the victor had not. Government honoured Gen Khumalo for his role in fighting colonialism.-@bonganinkunzi